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NASA's next big Mars rover will include a helicopter designed to work in Mars's thin atmosphere:
When NASA launches its next rover to Mars, the vehicle will have a small helicopter along for the ride. NASA announced today that it will be sending a small autonomous flying chopper — aptly named the Mars Helicopter — with the upcoming Mars 2020 rover. The helicopter will attempt to fly through the Martian air to see if vehicles can even levitate on Mars, where the atmosphere is 100 times thinner than that of Earth.
The design for the Mars Helicopter has been in the works for the last four years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but the space agency had yet to decide if it was actually going to send the vehicle to Mars. NASA needed to determine if this technology was actually feasible and if the agency had enough money in its budget to include the copter, according to Spaceflight Now. Now it seems that the agency has decided that this copter idea could actually work.
One much better place in the solar system for a flying vehicle is Titan, which has lower surface gravity and a denser atmosphere than Earth.
Related: Titan Ripe for Drone Invasion
NASA New Frontiers Finalists: Comet 67P Sample Return and a Titan Drone
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 13 2018, @07:35PM (5 children)
Oh wow gee nobody thought of growing food there. Or using a BFR to leave.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2151285-how-we-could-make-oxygen-on-mars-plus-fuel-to-get-home/ [newscientist.com]
http://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/6342/20150514/humans-may-not-have-to-carry-oxygen-to-mars.htm [sciencetimes.com]
You could also use plants to produce more oxygen.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by tftp on Sunday May 13 2018, @09:04PM (3 children)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 13 2018, @09:27PM (2 children)
BFR could deliver the mass equivalent of the ISS to the surface of Mars in just 3 orbital-refueled trips.
ISS [wikipedia.org] mass = 419,455 kg
BFR [wikipedia.org] payload to Mars [wikipedia.org] with in-orbit refueling = 150,000 kg
Sending enough food there for an ISS-like crew to live for months, and sending what they need to set up a greenhouse and machinery to produce propellant for a return trip using BFR is entirely possible, and doesn't require decades of delay or good robotic technology.
Now I don't disagree that waiting a couple of decades and setting things up in advance with robots is a better idea. But I doubt that the initial forays into manned Mars exploration are going to (attempt to) produce a permanent colony. Even Musk doesn't have plans to pay for such an idea (at this point), he is just making the proposal and building the fully reusable and high-payload rocket he thinks will best facilitate colonization of Mars.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 14 2018, @06:18PM (1 child)
Even better, just bring the ISS to Mars when it's decomissioned.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday May 14 2018, @08:16PM
Recent NASA plans for Mars called for humans to orbit Mars rather than land on it, in the early 2030s. If that continues to be the case, maybe they can throw the ISS over there at the same time. But that doesn't track with the administration's current plans to transition use of the ISS to private companies.
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(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Monday May 14 2018, @06:37PM
So true. You bring a potato. You poop on it, you water it. Eventually it makes food & air. Although the food is nothing but potatoes. Mars, possibly, will be known as the planet of french fries and vodka!